Electrical floor-hinge device

ABSTRACT

A novel electrical floor-hinge device is provided, which contains an electrical motor and a speed reducing element configured on top of a platform element at a side on top of a body member. A vertical input shaft connected to the speed reducing element is joined to a lateral involute shaft via bevel gears. The involute shaft in turn engages a driven gear on a vertical output shaft. The top end of the output shaft is attached to a seat element whose top surface is fixedly joined to a lower inner corner of a door. By the electrical motor&#39;s driving the seat element into clockwise or counterclockwise swing, the door is closed or opened automatically. The speed reducing element can be easily replaced to fit doors of different weight.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to floor hinges, and moreparticularly to an electrical floor-hinge device whose motor is arrangedabove the ground for easy maintenance.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

A conventional electrical floor hinge usually has its motor andtransmission mechanism buried underground by the doorpost. When theelectrical floor hinge fails, usually the door cannot be switched tomanual operation, and the entire electrical floor hinge has to be dugout from the ground for repair, which is rather inconvenient in additionto the damage to the floor. In addition, a conventional electrical floorhinge is usually equipped with a transmission mechanism specifically fordoors within a certain range of weight. If the door is replaced with oneof different weight after the electrical floor hinge is installed,again, the entire electrical floor hinge has to be dug out and replaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provides a novelelectrical floor-hinge device to obviate the foregoing shortcomings ofprior approaches. The electrical floor-hinge device mainly contains abody member having an electrical motor and a speed reducing elementconfigured at a side. A vertical input shaft connected to the speedreducing element is joined to a lateral involute shaft via bevel gears.The involute shaft in turn engages a driven gear on a vertical outputshaft. The top end of the output shaft is configured with a seat elementfixedly attaching to a lower inner corner of a door. By the electricalmotor's driving the seat element into clockwise or counterclockwiseswing, the door is closed or opened automatically.

An elongated rod has its two ends joining to a deflecting bar extendedfrom a ling on the top end of the output shaft, and a block extendedfrom the bottom of the seat element, respectively. When the electricalfloor-hinge device fails, the door can be manually opened or closedafter releasing the elongated rod from either the deflecting bar or theblock of the seat element.

The body member is assembled by embedding a cover element into the topopening of a basin element. As such, when building the basin elementunder the ground and by filling the cement up to the height of the basinelement, the cement wouldn't cover the interface between the coverelement and the basin element. Additionally, around the top opening ofthe basin element, an encircling groove is provided for the installationof a washer for superior waterproofing.

The electrical motor and the speed reducing element are configured on aplatform element which is provided at an end on top of the coverelement. The electrical motor and the speed reducing element are thenenclosed by the platform element and a casing element. A number ofgrooves are provided along the lateral sides of the platform element forthe installation of washers, which provides superior waterproofing.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the electrical floor-hinge deviceaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view showing the various components ofthe electrical floor-hinge device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the joining of the casing elementto the platform element of FIG. 1

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the electrical floor-hinge device ofFIG. 1

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the electrical floor-hingedevice of FIG. 1

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the installation of theelectrical floor-hinge device of FIG. 1 after the body member is buriedunderground.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the application of the electricalfloor-hinge device of FIG. 1 to a pair of doors.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are top views showing the operation of the electricalfloor-hinge device of FIG. 1 to doors of different size and weight.

FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are perspective views showing how the elongated rodof FIG. 1 is released for manual operation of the door.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the electrical floor-hinge device according toan embodiment of the present invention contains a hollow body member 100formed by a cover element 1 and a basin element 2. At an end of the bodymember 100, a platform element 11 is provided on top of the coverelement 1, upon which a speed reducing element 14 and an electricalmotor 13 are configured in this order from bottom to top. The speedreducing element 14 delivers an appropriate torque generated from theelectrical motor 13 to an input shaft 141 connected to the speedreducing element 14. The speed reducing element 14 and the electricalmotor 13 are sealed in a closed space formed by placing a casing element15 over the platform element 11. Around the lateral sides of theplatform element 11, a number of grooves 111 are provided for theinstallation of a same number of washers 12 to achieve superiorwaterproofing to the closed space. At an appropriate location on alateral side of the casing element 15, a through hole 151 is provided. Apower cable 17 connected to the electrical motor 13 is threaded throughthe through hole 151 via a plugging element 16 which contains a tubularcollar 161 and a fastening ring 162.

The input shaft 141 connected to the speed reducing element 14penetrates vertically through the cover element 1 into the basin element2. Inside the basin element 2, the input shaft 141 has a bevel gear 21at its end, which is joined to another bevel gear 221 at an end of aninvolute shaft 22. The other end of the involute shaft 22 penetratesthrough a chamber 18 beneath the cover element 1 via two cone bearings24 at the entrance and the exit to the chamber 18 respectively so thatthe involute shaft 22 is held laterally beneath the cover element 1 anda threaded segment of the involute shaft 22 is housed inside the chamber18. Each of the two cone bearings 24 is fixedly attached to the chamber18 by a ling element 25 and a stopping plate 26. The threaded segment ofthe involute shaft 22 is joined to a driven gear 23 at the middlesection of a vertical output shaft 231. A top end of the output shaft231 penetrates upward through the cover element 1 and is configured witha ring 27 having an extended deflecting bar 271. a cone bearing 28, anda ring element 281. The bottom end of the output shaft 231 is configuredwith a cone bearing 29. Along the output shaft 231 and between thedriven gear 23 and the ring 27, another cone bearing 29 is provided.

A seat element 3 is fitted on the cone bearing 28 at the top end of theoutput shaft 231. The seat element 3 has a scale 30 engraved on its topsurface and a block 31 extended from the bottom. An elongated rod 32 hasits two ends fixedly locked to the deflecting bar 271 with a screw 321and to the block 31 with another screw 322 respectively.

The basin element 2 has a plurality of leveling elements 43 providedalong the bottom edges outside the basin element 2. A number of screws44 through the leveling element 43 are used to adjust the level of thebody member 100. A groove 41 is provided around the top opening of thebasin element 2 so that, after the cover element 1 is placed inside thetop opening of the basin element 2, a washer 45 is embedded into thegroove 41 for superior waterproofing to the body member 100. Inside thebasin element 2, a cylindrical seat 42 is provided on the bottom floorfor supporting and accommodating the cone bearing 29 at the bottom endof output shaft 231 after it is surrounded by a ring element 46.

To use the electrical floor-hinge device, the body member 100 is buriedunderground by a door post with the top opening of the basin element 2roughly flush against the ground. An inner (i.e., adjacent to thedoorpost) corner of the door is fixedly attached to the top surface ofthe seat element 3 and, by the torque delivered from the electricalmotor 13 to the seat element 3, the door is turned open or closeautomatically.

Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5. The cover element 1 and the basin element2 can be easily joined together and separated apart with washer 45 alongtheir interface for waterproofing. Similarly, the interface between theplatform element 11 and the casing element 15 is also protected by anumber of washers 12 for superior waterproofing.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the body member 100 is buriedunderground by the doorpost, the screws 44 threading through theleveling elements 43 are used to adjust the level of the body member100. Then cement is filled until it flushes against the top of the basinelement 2. As the cover element 1 is embedded inside the basin element2, the cement wouldn't cover the interface between the cover element 1and the basin element 2.

After the body member 100 is installed, a lower inner corner of a door 5is fixedly attached to the top surface of the seat element 3 by, forexample, welding. The scale 30 on the top surface of the seat element 3helps to properly align the door 5 against the seat element 3. The door5 has its upper inner corner joined to a rotating mechanism 51 extendedfrom the doorpost. When the electrical motor 13 engages, the seatelement 3 is turned either counterclockwise or clockwise and the door 5is in turn opened or closed. If the electrical floor-hinge device fails,the cover element 1 can be removed from the body member 100 to exposethe inside of the boded member 100 for repair.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the electrical floor-hinge device can beapplied to doors of different size and weight. If the door 5 is replacedby one with different weight, a user can easily open the casino element15 and replace the speed reducing element 14 with one appropriate to thenew door's weight, instead of replacing the entire electricalfloor-hinge device.

As shown in FIG. 10, if there is a malfunction and the electricalfloor-hinge device fails to open a closed door, the screw 322 can beremoved so that the seat element 3 is not locked to the elongated rod32. The door then can be opened manually. On the other hand, if theelectrical floor-hinge device fails when the door is open as shown inFIG. 12, the screw 321 can be removed so that the seat element 3 and theelongated rod 32 is detached from the deflecting bar 271, the door thencan be manually closed as shoves in FIG. 11. Therefore, no matter whatthe status of the door is when the electrical floor-hinge device fails,the door can always be opened or closed manually and easily.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. An electrical floor-hinge device for automatically swinging a dooropen and close, comprising: a hollow body member formed by a coverelement and a basin element, said cover element having a top; a platformelement arranged at an end of said top of said cover element, saidplatform element having lateral sides provided with a plurality ofgrooves; a plurality of washers engaged with said grooves; an electricalmotor; a speed reducing element having an input shaft for deliveringtorque generated from said electrical motor, said input shaft beingconnected to said speed reducing element and penetrating verticallythrough said cover element into said basin element, said input shafthaving a first bevel gear which is engaged with a second bevel gearmounted at a first end of said involute shaft, a second end of saidinvolute shaft penetrating through a chamber beneath said cover elementvia two cone bearings at an entrance and an exit to said chamber therebyholding said involute shaft laterally beneath said cover element, athreaded segment of said involute shaft being housed inside saidchamber, each of said cone bearings being fixedly attached to saidchamber by a ring element and a stopping plate, said threaded segment ofsaid involute shaft being joined to a driven gear at a middle section ofa vertical output shaft, a top end of said output shaft penetratingupward through said cover element and configured with a ring having anextended deflecting bar, a cone bearing and a ring element, a bottom endof said output shaft being configured with a cone bearing, a conebearing being provided along said output shaft between said driven gearand said ring; said basin element having a cylindrical seat forsupporting and accommodating said cone bearing at said bottom end ofsaid output shaft; a seat element fitted on a cone bearing at a top endof said output shaft; and an elongated rod having two ends fixedlylocked to said deflecting bar with a first screw and to said block witha second screw.
 2. The electrical floor-hinge device as claimed in claim1, wherein said seat element has a top provided with a scale and abottom provided with a block.
 3. The electrical floor-hinge device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of screws are threaded through aplurality of leveling elements configured around a bottom edge of saidbasin element for adjusting level of said body member.